


Carson series - Worst Case Scenario

by writehard_whumpharder



Category: Original Work
Genre: Carson Hall - Freeform, Carson series, Character Death, Daniel Hopkins - Freeform, Fainting, Gangs, Henry Morris - Freeform, Magic, Magical Exhaustion, Magicians, Overuse of Magic, Riley Miller - Freeform, Threats, Whump, carson goes rogue, collapse, fight, hostage, manhandled, police matter, ughhh tagging suckssss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:15:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28722714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writehard_whumpharder/pseuds/writehard_whumpharder
Summary: When a local gang of magic-users find out Carson is working with the police, they use Daniel as leverage to keep him quiet. But when they take it too far and hurt him, Carson breaks and goes into a mindless rage. They underestimated his power and just how far he would go to get revenge. No one will leave this fight in one piece.
Kudos: 8





	Carson series - Worst Case Scenario

A boot came down on Carson's head, pushing his face so hard into the ground he tasted dirt. 

"Don't move." The man growled, pressing down harder until Carson thought his skull might crack. "Not a single muscle."

"I'm not afraid of you," Carson said defiantly.

"Of course you're not. I know all about your little powers. You think you have another card up your sleeve, huh? Well so do I."

"What does that mean?" Carson asked.

"It means you better start cooperating," he threatened.

Carson stared at the thin layer of dust settled on the cement floor and asked himself just how the fuck he had gotten here. He was probably about to be killed, and for what? Nothing. What really bothered him was how random and meaningless it was. Some gang he'd never even heard of, full of people he didn't even recognize, had found out who he was. More importantly, who he was working with. It shouldn't be any surprise that rogue magicians would feel threatened by his alliance with the police. It took away their advantage against the regular people of New York who otherwise wouldn’t stand a chance against them.

"You know, it really pains me to do this. You're supposed to be one of us, but you just had to go snitch to the cops. Should have just minded your own business," he said it like he was truly disappointed. Like he had no other choice. But Carson knew it was all an act. He'd probably enjoy killing him then never give it another thought. The man took his foot off Carson's head so he could kneel down in front of his face. The pressure didn't ease up in the slightest and if he couldn't see the man's two feet he'd think he was still standing on him. He was using magic, of course, to pin him down. Slowly the weight settled over his entire body until he couldn't lift even a finger off the ground.

"So that's it. You're gonna kill me right? What are you waiting for?"

The man smiled, showing off a couple crowns that didn't quite match the rest of his teeth. "Oh Carson, we're not going to kill you. That would be a waste of your talents, and who knows, maybe one day you'll join us. Today, we're just gonna let you off with a warning." He stood up and called to someone Carson couldn't see, "bring him out!"

A door swung open somewhere to Carson's left and he heard the shuffling of feet. Suddenly strong hands were yanking him up off the floor by his hair so that he was kneeling down, arms behind his back. The guy didn't let go of his hair, pulling just enough to be uncomfortable. About 20 feet away another man was brought to his knees with a hood over his head.

Carson's brain slowed to a stop. It couldn't be. They wouldn't... He tried to reason with himself. That it could be anyone under that hood. But he knew before they even pulled it off. It was Daniel. They must know more about him than he thought if they were clever enough to bring his only friend out as a bargaining chip. He racked his brain for answers. When did they take him? Did they hurt him? Is he scared?

"Okay, I won't work with the police. I'll never talk to them again. I won't tell anyone about you. I-" the words spilled from his mouth desperately. "I'll do whatever you want."

"I know you will. This is your one and only warning. Talk again and you'll end up just like your friend over there."

"Wait. Don't." Carson was ready to summon all his magic. He was ready to suck the souls out of everyone there. He was ready to level the entire building in one quick explosion. But he wasn't fast enough. The gunshot was deafeningly loud as it bounced off the walls and large metal doors. It echoed through the warehouse, leaving absolute silence in its wake. Carson watched helplessly as they pulled the gun, took the shot, then slipped it back into their pocket as if nothing happened. Carson was in shock. He tried to think and make some kind of plan but any thoughts seemed to dissolve halfway through his head. His eyes stayed glued to Daniel's body that had fallen over, face down, limp and lifeless. The bullet must have gone straight through his lung, maybe his heart too. He felt each passing second take him farther and farther away from him. Just 10 seconds ago, Daniel was fine. Just 15 seconds ago, Daniel was fine. Just 30 seconds ago, Carson's world was still in one piece. And in another 30, it could be shattered forever. 

He struggled to free himself from the man's grip all the while still counting in his head. That’s when he felt it. The surge of desperation he has only felt one other time in his life, the day that he got his powers. He felt it coursing through his veins, tingling across his skin, sinking into his bones - a call for power. He all but reached his hand into the inky darkness of the world beyond this one, summoning up everything He would give him. The response was immediate and more grand than he could ever have imagined. His blood boiled with rage but in some sick way it felt  _ good  _ as the power filled his body _.  _ His eyes settled on Daniel again and for a brief second, he forgot all his anger, with this much power he could just reach over and pluck his soul back out of Death's hands. But he didn't want Daniel to see what he was going to do next. Maybe he wasn’t thinking straight. Maybe he wasn’t thinking at all. But he knew he couldn’t revive him just yet.

Carson stood up as if the magic that had been holding him down was nothing to him. The magician behind him desperately applied more then started to step backward in fear when he realized it wasn't working. With all their power and their guns they still stood no chance. They had officially lost control of the situation, although to say Carson was in control wouldn't be accurate either. His brain was so clouded with anger and grief that he couldn't think of anything else. The gang had made one critical mistake with this little plan of theirs. They didn’t know that while he was a magician, he was completely different from them. He drew his power from a different source, a much darker one. They might have more men but Carson had Death on his side. 

The energy ripped through the empty warehouse like a storm. The shadows in the room shuddered and danced and more seemed to be spilling out every second. A strong wind picked up around them and Carson's own skin seemed to radiate the dark, smoky magic. For a second, Carson just focused on breathing it in. He wanted to remember this feeling. Energy traveled up from the soles of his feet and out through his fingertips in pulsating waves. The magic was different than the kind he usually worked with. He had access to life energy, souls. The magic flowing through him now, while still made up of life energy, was dark. It came from somewhere else, but in that moment, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

Shadows whipped at his feet and wrapped around his body. A few brave men started firing bullets in his direction, some sailed right past, the others simply disappeared into the shadows, letting his magic consume them. He could kill the surrounding men at any time, and he planned to. But not before he had some fun with them.

"You really have no idea who you're messing with, do you?" He seethed. The garage doors rattled as the air itself thrummed with energy. But despite the sound of the raging storm around them, his voice came through crystal clear as if he had spoken directly into each and every person's head. "You think we're the same?" No one dared to move so this time he screamed over the wind, "Answer me!"

There was a chorus of no's. The voices of the men had grown small and timid, a stark contrast to what they were just minutes before. What happened to that arrogance? Carson turned slowly to look at each person in the warehouse surrounding him in a loose circle. There was so much he wanted to say to them. So much that he wanted to demand. It just didn’t make sense to him. Carson never really understood other magicians since their powers were fundamentally different, but it’s not just that. These people were criminals, they did use their magic to do bad things, they were exactly what people thought magic-users to be. It sickened him to think that he might be just like them. Deep down though, he knew that he was worse.

A tear slipped down his cheek. His feelings were so loud in his head it was deafening. Carson looked at Daniel again. He was face down, covered in blood, and his life force was hanging on by a thread. They did that to him. They killed him. Something had snapped inside Carson. Why bother pretending anymore to be anything other than a monster?

"I'm going to let you off with a warning..." he said venomously, repeating their own words back to them, "instead of giving you all the hell that you deserve, I'll make your deaths quick. Your bodies will serve as a message to anyone else who wants to mess with me." There were about ten men that he could see and five more that were nearby. They all froze, unable to move as Carson’s hold on them tightened. "Now say thank you."

Carson was glad Daniel couldn’t see him. There was a stunned silence and he tightened his grip until each one of them used their last breath to thank him for his mercy. There was no struggle at all. He just pulled and they dropped like puppets cut from their strings. Their souls came so easily out of their bodies it was fascinating. There was so much energy in the room then that he had no choice but to direct all of their souls downward into Death's hands who graciously received them. It all happened in an instant. Fifteen bodies hit the ground, the wind disappeared, all the magic in the room was taken back. But before letting go, he used some of that power to bring Daniel back, using much of his own soul in the process. There was a price for bringing someone back from the dead. No matter how much raw power he possessed.

Carson fell to his knees, his vision swam. What the hell just happened? The sudden silence made his ears ring. Carson was definitely still in shock. The evidence of what he had just done was littered across the room but he couldn’t make sense of it. His neck shook pitifully as he lifted his head enough to see Daniel stir, slowly sitting up. A tension he didn't realize he was holding dissipated at the sight. Relief flooded his system. He could stop now, Daniel was safe. Carson crumbled, slouching forward until he hit the ground. There wasn't any energy left in him spare and he felt himself fading away. His body felt heavy and warm. No, not warm, he was burning up. It was as if all the power that had moved through his body left him burned from the inside out. God, it just hurt so much. He wanted to cry but didn’t have the energy. How pathetic.

Daniel sat up just in time to see Carson waver and topple over from his knees. His eyes trailed along the ceiling dizzily until they rolled back and closed. He went completely limp. There are two ways of being unconscious, Daniel decided, the normal kind... and whatever Carson was. A person can be out, and they can be  _ out.  _ There's a subtle difference between the two. Daniel stared at him in shock. He wanted to run to him but he felt a bit strange, it takes a moment to get used to it, the feeling of your heart beating again. 

Morris burst through the side door first, followed immediately by Riley. Uniformed police spilled into the warehouse with their guns drawn. They went in the moment Morris deemed it safe. Riley hurried over to Carson, gently turning him so he was lying on his back and Morris came to stand halfway between them and Daniel, trying to piece together what had happened. Aside from them, all the gang members present were dead. There was no blood, just a handful of lifeless bodies with no signs of violence on them.

"Daniel, did you see what happened?" Morris asked, coming to kneel in front of him. Daniel just sat there, too shaken to even process what he said to him. 

“Morris, get over here!” Riley yelled, fighting to keep her voice under control. She didn’t want Daniel to know what was happening.

Morris hustled over to her and dropped his voice down to a whisper, “What’s going on?”

In that moment, he saw the junior detective in front of him crumble away, leaving only a scared little girl. Sometimes he forgot just how young she is. When Riley didn’t respond he jumped into action, taking Carson’s pulse and listening to his breathing. Except… there was nothing to listen to. He checked again, thinking he must have done it wrong, but he had been right the first time. There was no pulse to be found. Carson was, by medical definition, dead.

In truth, Morris was scared too. But he wouldn’t let that get in the way of him doing his job. Morris made sure Carson’s body was in the right position before starting chest compressions. Riley grabbed one of Carson’s wrists to keep track of his pulse while Morris worked desperately to resuscitate him. He pounded on his chest with all of his strength, no doubt bruising his ribs, but that’s what it took to make a person’s heartbeat again. He did a full set of thirty then paused to give him two breaths as he was trained to do. He was about to start compressions again when Riley interrupted him.

“Wait, I think I feel a pulse.” 

Whether Morris’s first aid had saved his life or Carson’s soul was merely rejected by Death, they would never know. In any case, they could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Carson was still unconscious but he seemed stable.

The police opened one of the garage doors and guided an ambulance to back up to it. Soon two EMTs were rushing towards them. A woman settled a heavy blanket over Daniel's shoulders before joining her partner to lift Carson onto the stretcher. "I'm going to have some questions for you later but for now I want you to go to the hospital with Carson and get yourself checked out too. Do you understand?"

"Yeah," Daniel mumbled. His eyes followed Carson as he was wheeled away, "Carson, hospital."

"Good enough, come on." Morris grabbed Danny's arm and helped him to his feet. He guided him all the way to the ambulance and made sure the two were taken care of before launching into the investigation. "Call the coroner, and forensics, fuck, call everyone," he ordered. With this many dead he couldn't cut a single corner in this investigation. Well, every corner except all the ones leading to Carson. He planned to do his job thoroughly but there wouldn't be any evidence of murder, he'd make sure of it.

Riley stopped in front of him, "Apparently there were more gang members posted outside as well as some in the backrooms of the building. We've counted a total of fifteen men, dead."

"Fifteen?! Damn it," he huffed and started pacing. "After you're done here go meet them at the hospital, I have to make a few phone calls," he stepped away.


End file.
